The common western man (let's call him bob, to avoid the cumbersome title) thinks of philosophy as an esoteric thing that only old men with white beards and massive knowledge of anything and everything can know. He thinks that philosophy is an ungraspable object, that only the enlightened, and not he, the common man, can come to and understanding of. To Bob, i would extend this question: Are these philosophers more than human?Are they perhaps, some sort of demigods, come to live among us and try to guide some of us out of the allegoric cave Plato chronicled? Or are they simply men such as yourself, who have simply pondered the condition of themselves and their fellow men and of themselves, and then made their findings known? Philosophy is no more esoteric than religion, in fact, less so, and the vast majority of westerners engage in religion, so why not attempt to understand philosophy, and even basic reason? Many would answer that these have no effect on their lives, that even if they did understand, they would not be able to apply them to situations that actually matter. To them i would say this: you use basic reason every day, and philosophy is simply a natural step from knowledge of simple reason. Reason is little more than applied common sense:it is the reason(pun intended) that bob does not do stupid things every day such as sticking his fork into electrical sockets or walking into Boston traffic. Philosophy is simply the next logical step in the application of common sense; it is not thinking inside or outside the box, but thinking about how the box itself functions. It is applying the same common sense used to determine that it is bad to electricute ones self, or to hit ones thumb with a sledge hammer, to more esoteric, but of equal, or even greater importance. Questions dealing with why people do things, and what the way in which these things should be done actually is. The common man once had the capacity to ponder these things, why can't he now, even with the advancements made to his life?
I would be so bold as to say that it is these very improvements that make the man of today less reasonable and knowledgeable than his century old counterpart. He has been given faster communication, faster entertainment, easy access to things that he wishes to do, and a media which blares mindless corporate propaganda at him incessently. This propaganda has made its mark: The common man is stupid enough to give these megacorporations the blood their executives run on: money. He buys useless things , and updates of these that are really not updates at all. He debates inwardly about what namebrand he should buy or wear, when the only difference in the product is a small logo. He spends over a hundred dollars on a pair of shoes that took maybe 3 dollars to make, or a shirt that took 15 cents to make. A westerner 120,100,80, or even 50 years ago had far less 'selection' and 'diverse products' and he was probably a whole lot smarter.
Now, i am not trying to stand against progression in communication. In fact, without the mass communication i bemoan, i would not be able to effectively bemoan it. The internet and other media areas have the good as well as the bad, all i mean to say is that the bad has become far too prevalent in the lifestyle of many.